Happy Birthday Chris!

Chris' birthday came and went without so much as a blog acknowledgement. Don't worry - we didn't forget! Happy 28th Birthday Chris!!

Yes, he was present. Maybe I should snap a picture of the birthday person next time!!

Summer fun, with stocking hats

Swimming!

So Cute!!

Manhattan tornado

The tornado that made its way through Manhattan just missed our house, thankfully. It is truly heartbreaking how many families have lost their homes and belongings. The damage is devastating. We were very lucky to have our home intact, being less than a mile from the path of the tornado. Unfortunately, in addition to the homes and businesses, a hundred or so storage sheds were destroyed - ours being one of them. We spent several hours searching through the area, into the creek bed, but were only able to locate a few small items. No sign of the kids' beds, or any of the 50 or so rubbermaid storage containers that were inside. I was really overcome by the sight of Ashton's baby sleeper hanging from a tree. I'm sure we've lost things we haven't even thought of yet. We are especially discouraged since the majority of my mother's furniture and cherished belongings had been temporarily stored in that shed while she was living with us. It is very much as though her house were destroyed.

These are all pictures that I took of the Amherst storage sheds. They show the area where our storage shed used to be, and what was left in its place.

Google map of tornado path through Manhattan:

http://www.ci.manhattan.ks.us/DocumentView.asp?DID=4547

This photograph was in one of the news stories I came across. I believe it said it is the actual tornado that went through Manhattan, but I can't find the story to verify again. I'll update if I find it.

Waters True Value - leveled:

Please keep the residents of Manhattan in your prayers

For every mother of young children

I've been following Catherine Newman, stalkingly, through her weekly posts for three years now and I just had to share. What a wonderful writer - she captures the thoughts of every mother out there, humorously, week after week. I began reading when she posted on BabyCenter, then followed her to Wondertime. If you have time, I highly recommend starting at the beginning, but at least check out today!

http://wondertime.go.com/parent-to-parent/blogs/catherine-newman-blog/

and the old ones:
http://www.babycenter.com/0_quick-index-to-bringing-up-ben-birdy_72519.bc